CHF

Good to get the first win on the board for the season and excellent that it was against the Swans in Sydney. I have watched the replay a few times now and there are a few things that stood out for me. To my mind there was less overt celebration when a goal was kicked. It was more "ok. now we look for the next one.' rather than "that's great let's jump and whoop and leave ourselves open to a counter." I loved the way we structured our attack on the ball in the second half. We looked much more like the team of last year. We attacked in numbers at the ball carrier with a number of team mates around the scrum waiting to receive or step in if required. I liked Petracca's game and it is a significant building block for him for the rest of the season and seasons to come. He is starting to realise that he has the power and skills to do a hell of a lot more than he has been doing. Preuss was interesting. He filled a very good role against Alir. It may have been a role that was formulated by the coaching staff and if so, well done and well done that man for doing it so well. In the next couple of pre-seasons I would get him to shadow Max in his training. The way that max has matured in his training and body management is a credit to him and should be a profile for our developing big men.

Not expecting much tonight with the extensive injury list we have. With Jetta and Lockhart out I count 10 on the injured list that would play in the 22. that is a lot of preferred players and depth missing from the list. While not expecting much, I think it will be close as I do not rate the Swans this season.

Good to see Preuss in as it will give us a few options to try during the match and will have Sydney asking some questions as to how we may set up. If Preuss can more than hold his own in the ruck it will give us a chance to swing Max forward and possibly use TMac to shore up the defence if required. It will just make us a bit more flexible. I see Jones has been named on a HBF. a good thing if he is played there in my opinion as he should give some critical leadership support to the defence.

Our defence is rubbish

So, here we are two weeks into the new season without a win and there are a number on this site that are calling it 'season over' already. I am not one of them. The list we have is the same one that played good footy last year so they know how to do it. we have had a shorter preseason than in recent years and we had a large number of players that went under the knife to fix niggles. All have added up to a slow start to the season. Week 1 we were as bad as we could be. Last week I saw and overall improvement in the general play with the highlighting of structural problems in our forward 50. This week I think we will see another step up in overall quality of play and we will win a tight one to be 2-1 after the first three rounds.

Jones and Viney to the VFL

We are having our pants surgically removed.

Have paid up in Feb. [censored] off here

Yep. Same in Europe for me

From the reports and the vision I have watched it would seem that we have excellent depth in the list this season. Not only do we have that depth but it would also seem that we have a mature game plan that most of the list are familiar with. This means that the depth is very effective because when they have to step up, they know what is expected of them and what to expect. Looking forward to a strong showing by the club this season.

Should not be too long before there is some announcement on the leadership group.If I recall correctly, it was just after the Queensland trip last year that they made the announcement.

Oscar McDonald v Alex Neal-Bullen Bayley Fritsch vs Aaron vandenBerg Sam Weideman vs 7. Angus Brayshaw

McDonald Stretch Preuss

Fine by me. Here, just sign me over the film rights.

Aaron vandenBerg vs Kade Kolodjashnij James Jordon vs Tim Smith Braydon Preuss vs Tom Sparrow Toby Bedford vs Jake Lever Corey Wagner vs Sam Weideman

I travel a lot with bases in a few places. I have a base in Spain and another in London with travel through Africa and the ME. Suitcase Ex-pat.

R14 May vs. Hogan at the 'G'. The second time the Dockers play at the "G" for the season and the last time they at that venue for the season.

I joined 'Ology and 'Land around the same time and, at the time the MFC were drying out for a CHF.

I have no idea at what our results might be next year. I want to believe that we will end the season better placed than last year. This is what I do know; There will be times when I am over the moon at the way the team plays, there will be times when I want to put my foot through the screen. there will be times when I call the players/coaches idiots and times I will think they are pure genius.... So it will not be too different to last season. Improved list, fit players and manageable injuries would all go a long way moving us towards the ultimate goal. I have some guesses. 3rd place after H and A Earn a GF place Brayshaw to win the Bluey Tmac to kick 60 Weid to kick 50 Geelong not to make the 8

According to a number of posters on this site we always pay overs for players we get in and get unders for players we trade out. My question is: if that is the case how are we now in a position to have a well balanced, strong list that is confidently predicted to be in the top 4 after the H&A?

I like the way that he does business. He comes across as a a very straight person to deal with and he gets done what needs to be done. This years trades will only be able to judged at the earliest at the end of next season. Overall I believe that we have a good list and if it can stay healthy I think we will give the top 4 a real tilt in 2019.

I would not put it past Bell to trade 5 to Adelaide himself if he gets it for Neale and then offer us 8 and 23

I thin,kit needs to be kept in mind that the Hogan trade, if it happens did not have to be dependent on the Neale trade as Freo had pick 6 that they could have used to sen d to us as part of the trade. They were greedy and sent it to Port for a range of later picks. Therefore they did not have a low first round to trade with us. It also set up this chain of trades wiating to happen. It should be noted that to date they have not used any of the picks they gained from Port.

They can wait for two years and get him for nothing and pay 6x6

I would suggest that first Freo have to buckle with regard to the Neale deal so that they can get pick 5. if they do fold on that then it would be a significant backdown by them and I could see Bell going aggressively at the hogan deal to get his feathered cap.